The Weary Blues: The Life And Life Of Langston Hughes

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James Mercer Langston Hughes, widely known as Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, though he grew up mainly in Lawrence, Kansas. Langston Hughes was raised primarily by his grandmother until she died in his early teens. Hughes then went to live with his mother and they moved to several different cities before they eventually came to settle down in Cleveland, Ohio. He expressed loneliness he experienced as a child due to parental neglect and he often mentioned that his loneliness is what drove his love of books. Hughes graduated high school in 1920 and wrote the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. The poem was published in ‘The Crisis’ in 1921, it was highly revered and brought him an abundance of attention. Hughes spent the next year in Mexico with his father. His father wanted him to become a mining engineer but he didnt want to pursue that…show more content…Back in New York City after his time spent in Europe, he explored Harlem and formed a permanent attachment to what he called the “great dark city”. Hughes rather quickly became a part of Harlem’s cultural movement. In 1925, Hughes’s poem “The Weary Blues” won first prize in the Opportunity magazine literary competition and Hughes also received a scholarship and went on to attend the historically black college Lincoln University, in Pennsylvania. While studying at Lincoln, Hughes’ poetry was compelling enough to draw attention of writer and critic Carl Van Vechten, who used his connections to help get Hughes’ first book of poetry, The Weary Blues published by Knopf in 1926. The book had popular appeal and set the tone of Hughes’ poetic style and his commitment and passion for black themes and heritage. Langston Hughes was among the first to use jazz rhythms and dialect to depict the life of urban blacks in his

Langston Hughes was probably the most well-known literary force during the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first known black artists to stress a need for his contemporaries to embrace the black jazz culture of the 1920s, as well as the cultural roots in Africa and not-so-distant memory of enslavement in the United States. In formal aspects, Hughes was innovative in that other writers of the Harlem Renaissance stuck with existing literary conventions, while Hughes wrote several poems and stories

“James Mercer Langston Hughes, known as Langston Hughes was born February 2, 1902 in Missouri, to Carrie Hughes and James Hughes.” Years later his parents separated. Langston’s father moved to Mexico and became very successful, as his for mother, she moved frequently to find better jobs. As a child growing up Langston spent most of his childhood living with his grandmother named Mary Langston in Lawrence, Kansas. Mary Langston was a learned women and a participant in the civil rights Movement. When

Langston Hughes was born at the turn of the century. Hughes spent a rootless childhood moving from place to place with his mother who was separated from his father. During one year in high school, Hughes spent time with his father in Mexico, a light-skinned man who found an escape from racism in ranching. It was in that very high school that Hughes wrote his first poem after being elected “class poet” by his fellow classmates.
His father was James Nathaniel Hughes, a man who studied law but was

The well known poet Langston Hughes was an inspiring character during the Harlem Renaissance to provide a push for the black communities to fight for the rights they deserved. Hughes wrote his poetry to deliver important messages and provide support to the movements. When he was at a young age a teacher introduced him to poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and they inspired him to start his own. Being a “darker brother,” as he called blacks, he experienced and wanted his rights, and that

Langston Hughes is regarded as one of the most significant American authors of the twentieth century. Foremost a poet, he was the first African-American to earn a living solely from his writings after he became established. Over a forty-year career beginning in the 1920s until his death in 1967, Hughes produced poetry, plays, novels, and a variety of nonfiction. He is perhaps best known for his creation of the fictional character, Jesse B. Semple, which first appeared in a Chicago Defender newspaper

and rebirth of literature and at this movement’s head was Langston Hughes. Hughes was a torchbearer for the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and musical movement that began in Harlem during the Roaring 20’s that promoted not only African-American culture in the mainstream, but gave African-Americans a sense of identity and pride.
Like most, the stories we hear as children leave lasting impacts in our heads and stay with us for lifetimes. Hughes was greatly influenced by the stories told by his grandmother

Langston Hughes is a famous poet from the 1900’s. “[He] is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance” (“Biography”). Langston’s life experiences with discrimination against blacks, own ethnic background, poverty, and dreaming of peace contributed to the making of countless poems.
Hughes was born in a time where black individuals did not have the same rights as white people. This struggle with discrimination contributed to several of Hughes poems such as “Democracy” where he talks about

American literature and American culture have always been connected throughout our history. Langston Hughes was able to recognize that, “Man had the inability to bridge cultures” (Bloom 16). In one of his writings, Luani of the Jungles, Langston writes about the interactions in a relationship between a white man and a black woman, “that is not ruined by outside disapproval, but the man’s own obsession and oversimplification of their racial differences” (16). Hughes’s ability to speak openly about

BIOGRAPHY I
James Mercer Langston-Hughes is a product of Joplin, Missouri where he was born to his parents, Carrie Langston and James Hughes, on February 1, 1902. Hughes’ parents divorced after his father was not accepted into Law school and moved to Mexico. After his father’s departure, Hughes’ mother began to travel to various cities in hopes of finding better work. This caused Hughes to live with his grandmother, and then another family after his grandmother’s death in 1912. Hughes eventually

Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the
Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, which was the first major movement of African-
American life and culture. Hughes was influenced by living in New York City's Harlem,
where his literary works helped shape American literature and politics. Hughes
strong sense of racial pride helped him promote equality, celebrate African-
American culture, and condemn racism through his poetry, novels, plays, essays,
and children's